


A Scientific Affair

by misura



Category: Stargate Atlantis, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-07
Updated: 2012-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-29 03:36:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein Tony goes to Atlantis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Scientific Affair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wojelah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wojelah/gifts).



Tony had been a whole lot less than sure about this entire 'let's ship Tony to some secret military facility in another galaxy where he can't get in any serious trouble or make us look bad in the media' plan from the beginning, even if, of course, Fury hadn't actually said that last part out loud. Still, Tony wasn't an idiot, and he also definitely wasn't some _thing_ people could just hide away when it embarrassed them, so there. He was staying on Earth and that was that.

Except that then, of course, Fury had talked to Rhodey, who apparently knew this guy Sheppard, whose name he'd never even _mentioned_ to Tony up until then, which was really very suspicious, except that Tony'd seen Rhodey kind of squirm in his seat when Tony'd pointed this out. Ordinarily, Tony'd have taken squirming as a sign he was being lied to, but in Rhodey's case, that just wasn't an option. That just wasn't _Rhodey_.

So. Tony'd packed his stuff, changed his will just in case, and set off to heroically rescue Rhodey's boyfriend. Or one-night stand, possibly; Rhodey'd been reluctant to go into details, and Tony figured guilt-tripping Rhodey into telling the whole sordid story after he got back would only make it that much better.

 

John Sheppard had messy hair, a messy personality, and the kind of attitude towards weapons Tony could work with.

Or rather: the kind of attitude towards weapons Tony _could have_ worked with, if only the lab in this place hadn't been occupied already.

 

"I thought Canadians were supposed to be polite," Tony said or, okay, whined. But hey - the place was great, there were lots of cool gadgets to look at and try out and play with, and the only functioning lab within, well, several lightyears was being held occupied by a Canadian egomaniac.

John shrugged. "He gets things done."

After a moment, Tony decided this probably meant that Tony wasn't supposed to do anything like oh, drag McKay out of the door and then lock himself in for a few hours. McKay, John was saying, was _useful_. Tony was just a visitor.

A reluctant visitor, granted, but still.

"I'll think of something," Tony said.

John smiled in a way that, indeed, made Tony think of something.

Unfortunately, he didn't really think seducing Rhodey's (ex?)boyfriend was going to get McKay out of his lab.

 

"Oh, I'm not saying he can _never_ use it," McKay said over lunch, not two days later, after Tony had finally decided to opt for a frontal attack during a strategic moment.

John nodded encouragingly. Tony'd been working on making himself likeable these past few days, and he liked to think his efforts had paid off. Besides, John was a reasonable guy, and nobody could possibly think it was reasonable to call in Tony Stark for a consult and then _not_ give him access to a proper lab.

Teyla had been - well, Tony'd gotten better around women, definitely. Pepper would have been proud of him.

Ronon still didn't seem to like him much, but that was fine. You couldn't be liked by everyone; that'd only make you boring.

"Just not all the time," John said, and Rodney nodded eagerly, while Tony thought _sucker_.

"Doctor McKay does ... very important work," Teyla said, smiling in a way that made Tony realize that while McKay was in the lab, he wasn't out here.

"I do," McKay agreed. "But, you know, fellow scientist and all that."

He looked at Tony in a way Tony didn't think he'd been looked at for a very long time. He should like it, he thought - clearly, McKay didn't care if Tony was Iron Man or rich or capable of getting any woman he wanted into bed, as long as they weren't Pepper or Natasha.

Tony determinedly put on his sunglasses. "Thanks. Much appreciated."

 

Naturally, McKay's idea of sharing the lab every now and then was, well, sharing the lab. Every now and then. Tony'd be in one corner and McKay'd be in another corner, unless he needed to be in Tony's corner, which really happened very often.

Tony wasn't really used to having people around when he worked. Sure, there'd been Jarvis and Pepper and sometimes Rhodey, but they hadn't actually _talked_. Or, well, they had, but not like McKay did.

What was getting on Tony's nerves was, he supposed, that McKay _criticized_.

 

"Look," Tony said, "I know what I'm doing, all right?"

"You're deliberately doing it wrong?" McKay asked in a tone that was extremely annoying.

"I'm not doing it wrong." Tony closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten.

McKay snorted, but didn't leave. And the thing was: Tony knew he _might_ be doing it wrong. That was what science was about, wasn't it? Testing. Trying. Trial and error. Sure, Tony got a lot of stuff right on the first try, but even a genius didn't get it right straightaway all the time. So.

"Will you just _go away_?"

McKay went. Finally.

(Of course, the experiment went off without a hitch. _Of course_.)

 

Tony wasn't sure at which point McKay upgraded him from 'annoying' to 'fascinating'.

He just got to the lab one day, and McKay was there already, giving him this _look_ as he walked in and then said: "So I hear you have a - in your - is that true?"

"Yes," Tony said. Wondering what sort of grapevine might extend all the way from Earth to the Pegasus Galaxy. Military, most likely, but Rhodey wouldn't gossip about something like that, not even in bed, probably, so who, then?

"Can I see?" McKay asked.

"Yes?" Tony said, because there didn't seem to be a good reason to say no.

That was the first time McKay got his shirt off in the lab.

 

The second time, it was more of a spontaneous, celebrating the fact that we are awesome kind of thing.

It also involved a bit of pretty tame petting and touching and the kind of stuff people who liked each other got up to when they'd had maybe a bit too much to drink.

 

The third time, Tony thought maybe he shouldn't, because he felt it might be becoming a Thing and he'd promised himself he wasn't going to do that anymore.

On the other hand, it wasn't as if people'd been throwing themselves at him around here or anything; he'd been good and played nice and it was well-known that not having sex made people less productive.

 

(He stopped counting after that, although he did remember to download the complete database of the Ancients on his laptop, so that he'd have something nice to give to Fury when he got back. Assuming, of course, Fury'd do anything to deserve being given such a nice thing, which seemed rather doubtful, actually, in which case Tony supposed he'd just have to keep the thing to himself.)


End file.
